In existing wireless communication systems, for ensuring the proper operation of a wireless network, the wireless network service providers need a large amount of data to evaluate network performance and make adjustment accordingly. The traditional Drive Test (DT) is a drive test method that gathers, in a specifically selected route, test parameters, such as transmit power, received power, number of access failures and data throughput, by means of User Equipment (UE) in a test car. For the wireless network service providers, the major drawback of this method is the high cost.
An alternative method is that, instead of using specialized test car and UE, a user terminal in the existing network may be used to automatically upload network information, such as the drive test information, and the Mini Drive Test (MDT) of the drive test information. In the initial phase of network operation, the network service providers can gather from mobile subscribers a lot of needed network information such as drive test information (e.g., data on service fees and information about handover success rate) to evaluate the operation status of the whole network. The UE adopted by this method may be mobile phones or other terminals, such as data cards and netbooks. It is necessary to find a proper time for a UE to upload drive test information without affecting the ongoing use of the UE by the user and without consuming much energy of the UE.
The problem with the method of automatically uploading the drive test information by the UE based on existing technology is that: when there is ongoing service between a UE and a network side equipment, given the wireless network environment, uploading the needed network information, such as the drive test information, by the UE at the same time may cause the ongoing service of the UE to be interrupted and may cause unsatisfactory user experience with the UE. Further, no matter what way is adopted to upload data, the uploading will consume more energy of the UE, which will result in shorter standby time of the UE.